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I looked a bit more of my Contraband deck and found out more proof on my aging courts theory.

Each queen holds a flower. And if we look the flowers on the same aging order (Hearts->Diamonds->Clubs->Spades) you can notice that the flower ages as well from being bloom on the Queen of Hearts to almost dead on the Queen of Spades.

This deck is underrated. I'd say Contraband is Theory11's best deck ever and it might have gotten more buzz if this deck would have been done by an independent artist.

T11 is really stepping up their game lately, especially since they are finally using custom courts and pips more frequently now. Their tuck boxes were always top notch, but now there's more substance to what's actually inside the tucks. Their Union deck is a great example. This is especially important now because E is regressing so badly.

Räpylätassu wrote:I looked a bit more of my Contraband deck and found out more proof on my aging courts theory.

Each queen holds a flower. And if we look the flowers on the same aging order (Hearts->Diamonds->Clubs->Spades) you can notice that the flower ages as well from being bloom on the Queen of Hearts to almost dead on the Queen of Spades.

This deck is underrated. I'd say Contraband is Theory11's best deck ever and it might have gotten more buzz if this deck would have been done by an independent artist.

Someone has a lot of free time on his hands!! (just kidding)

Well I'm waiting for my contrabands, they shoud arrive sometime this month, and after reading all of your theory it makes anxious to get these faster! Thank you for that!

MagikFingerz wrote:All courts are one-eyed? Poor sprouts is going to have a fit

Crap, I was almost out of this. It didn't see anything interesting. Now, I have to look at it with intent.

sprouts1115 wrote:

MagikFingerz wrote:All courts are one-eyed? Poor sprouts is going to have a fit

Crap, I was almost out of this. I didn't see anything interesting. Now, I have to look at it with intent.

MagikFingerz - They can do that. one-eyed is fine. YOu are a pirate. If you look into the past you might see the truth....

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A19q7rysLs#t=36[/youtube]

Räpylätassu wrote:I looked a bit more of my Contraband deck and found out more proof on my aging courts theory.

Each queen holds a flower. And if we look the flowers on the same aging order (Hearts->Diamonds->Clubs->Spades) you can notice that the flower ages as well from being bloom on the Queen of Hearts to almost dead on the Queen of Spades.

This deck is underrated. I'd say Contraband is Theory11's best deck ever and it might have gotten more buzz if this deck would have been done by an independent artist.

Any chance you could post some nice photos/scans of the courts? I am intrigued by your descriptions of the "aging", but the photos on the T11 website are pretty bad for showing the courts. They just look like very generic court cards from a distance...

th4mo wrote: Any chance you could post some nice photos/scans of the courts? I am intrigued by your descriptions of the "aging", but the photos on the T11 website are pretty bad for showing the courts. They just look like very generic court cards from a distance...

I can try but you will most likely get as good shots from me using a camera as a gorilla using a potato.

But let's see what I can do.

Edit: Here are the pictures:

Queens:







First of, as you can see the face of the Queen is the same face in each court, just getting older. It's pretty clear from Hearts to Diamonds and in Diamonds and Clubs it's almost the same face, except there is just a one more small wrinkle under the eye of the Queen of Clubs (might not be able to see it there, but easy to spot in person). And in Spades, the Queen is older, and the face is more wrinkly and more round. Also the flowers pedals keep getting smaller and the flower between Diamonds and Clubs is almost the same, but the thing-that-the-flower-is-attached-to-the-one-I-don't-know-the-english-word-for is a bit more tired looking. And again in the Spades, the flower is almost dead.

Jacks:







Again, the face is the same one in all of the Jacks. From Hearts to Diamonds, the Jack grows a small moustache and loses a bit of length in that glorious mullet. From Diamonds to Clubs the mullet gets shorter and the moustache thicker. Also the Jack gets more wrinkles on his face. And actually I don't see any difference between the Club and the Spade. There is a skull on the sword of the Jack of Spades, but nothing much about getting older.

Kings:







The Kings are a bit more difficult as the age difference in them seems to be bigger. But they do get older in the same order of suits as the rest of the courts. Also the moustache on the King of Hearts and the Diamonds is the same, also the hair on them is the same, only shorter on the Diamonds. Between Diamonds and Clubs the hair is again the same, only shorter, but the jump between the age is pretty big. Also the Clubs and the Spades ARE the same face, just older as you can see. The beard has gotten longer and there are more wrinkles on his face.

You can of course see this in better detail with the courts in your hand than in my bad pictures. But I think there is just too many similarities between them for it to be just a random thing. Also all the courts get older in the same suit order. My theory on the Aces was just speculation, but I'm pretty sure I got these right.

dleiber wrote:I just read through all 5 pages of this thread to try to see what symbology of "contraband" I was missing in these cards, but it appears that there really isn't any or very much. There is Latin, Italian, and a bunch of everything else insofar as designs go, but I guess it was misnamed just a tad. Still, the tuck is beautiful (the black version) and looks and feels premium to me. (Yes, I know I'm late to this party, but I still wanted to offer my two cents' worth.)

Is there two versions of this deck? When I viewed The Cardists video, the tuck looked more gold than black and everyone else video it looked different.

Räpylätassu wrote:
I can try but you will most likely get as good shots from me using a camera as a gorilla using a potato.

But let's see what I can do.

Thanks a lot!
Anything is better than what they have on their site, where the courts are indistinguishable. I think you are right on the money with the aging.

Thanks again!